The purpose, application, standard building codes, and relationship to other laws provisions provided in Sections 3.4.2.2 through 3.4.2.4 and Division 3.7 of this article are adopted by reference in this article and shall be applicable to the provisions in this article.
(Ordinance 2025-O-650 adopted 1/9/2025)
It is the city's policy to locate and route transmission or distribution lines in an orderly manner compatible with environmental preservation and the efficient use of resources. In accordance with this policy, the city shall choose locations that minimize adverse human and environmental impact while insuring continuing system reliability and integrity and insuring that all of the city's needs are met and fulfilled in an orderly and timely fashion.
(Ordinance 2025-O-650 adopted 1/9/2025)
A. 
Required. Each utility which owns or operates or plans within the next fifteen (15) years to own or operate transmission lines in the city shall develop forecasts as specified in this section.
B. 
Contents. On or before July 1 of each even-numbered year, each utility shall submit a forecast report to the city. The report may consist of appropriate portions of a single regional forecast and may be jointly prepared and submitted by two or more utilities. However, the report shall contain the following information:
1. 
A description of the tentative regional location and general size of all transmission lines to be owned or operated by the utility during the ensuing fifteen (15) years or any longer period the city deems necessary;
2. 
An identification of all existing transmission lines projected to be removed from service during any fifteen-year period or upon completion of construction of any transmission lines;
3. 
A statement, based on information as geographically specific as possible, of the projected demand for services in the city for the ensuing fifteen (15) years and the underlying assumptions for the projected demand;
4. 
A description of the capacity of the system to meet projected demands during the ensuing fifteen (15) years;
5. 
A description of the utility's relationship to other utilities and regional associations, power pools or networks; and
6. 
Other relevant information as the city may reasonably request.
C. 
Verification or revision. On or before July 1 of each odd-numbered year, a utility shall verify or submit revisions to Subsections B.1 and B.2.
(Ordinance 2025-O-650 adopted 1/9/2025)
A. 
Generally. The city shall promptly initiate a public planning process for all interested persons to participate in developing the criteria and standards to be used by the city in preparing an inventory of large transmission lines and to guide the site and route suitability evaluation and selection process. The participatory process shall include, but should not be limited to, public hearings. In addition, before the city adopts substantial modifications of the initial criteria and standards, the city shall hold additional public hearings.
B. 
Inventory of electrical transmission routes. Before the city issues a utility development permit under Division 3.5 of this Article, the electrical utility serving the city shall present an inventory of transmission lines to the city.
C. 
Advisory committees; staff advisor.
1. 
Advisory committee. The city shall appoint one or more advisory committees to assist it in carrying out its duties under this article. Committees appointed to evaluate routes considered for designation under this section shall be comprised of as many persons as may be designated by the city. No officer, agent, or employee of a utility may serve on an advisory committee.
2. 
Staff advisor. The city shall designate one staff person for the purpose of assisting and advising those affected and interested citizens on how to participate effectively in route proceedings.
3. 
Scientific advisory committee. The city may appoint one or more advisory committees composed of technical and scientific experts to conduct research and make recommendations concerning generic issues such as health, safety, underground routes, double circuiting, and long-range route and site planning.
(Ordinance 2025-O-650 adopted 1/9/2025)
A. 
Issuance of utility development permit.
1. 
The city shall study and evaluate the type, design, routing, right-of-way, preparation, and facility construction of any route an applicant proposes in a utility development permit application and any other route the city deems necessary.
2. 
Within six (6) months after the city receives a completed utility development permit application, the city shall decide which proposed route to designate. The city may extend the six-month time limitation for a period not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) days for just cause.
3. 
When the city designates a route, it shall issue a permit in accordance with Section 3.5.11 that specifies the type, design, routing, right-of-way preparation, and facility construction it deems necessary, along with any other appropriate conditions.
4. 
The city may order the construction of transmission line facilities that are capable of expansion in transmission capacity through design modifications.
5. 
No transmission lines shall be constructed except on a route designated by the city.
B. 
Emergency permit.
1. 
Any utility whose system requires the immediate construction of a transmission line may make application to the city for an emergency permit for the construction of transmission lines.
2. 
The city shall issue an emergency permit in a timely manner no later than 195 days after the city receives a completed application if the city finds that a demonstrable emergency exists which requires immediate construction and that adherence to the procedures and time schedules specified in Sections 3.10.3, 3.10.4, and 3.10.5 would jeopardize the utility's system or would jeopardize the utility's ability to meet the needs of its customers in an orderly and timely manner.
3. 
The city shall hold a public hearing to determine if an emergency exists within ninety (90) days of the application. The city shall promulgate rules specifying the criteria for emergency certification after it gives the applicant notice and holds the public hearing.
C. 
Considerations in designating routes. To facilitate the study, research, evaluation and designation of routes, the city shall be guided by, but not limited to, the following responsibilities, procedures, and considerations:
1. 
Transmission line route research and investigations, including water and air discharges and electric fields and their effects on land, water, air resources, public health and welfare, vegetation, animals, materials and aesthetic values, including base line studies, predictive modeling, and monitoring of the water and air mass at proposed and operating routes, and evaluation of new or improved methods for minimizing adverse impacts of water and air;
2. 
Environmental evaluation of routes proposed for future development and expansion and their relationship to the land, water, air, and human resources of the city;
3. 
Evaluation of the effects of new transmission technologies and systems to minimize adverse environmental effects;
4. 
Analysis of the direct and indirect economic impact of proposed routes to residential land lost or impaired;
5. 
Evaluation of adverse direct and indirect environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposed route be accepted;
6. 
Evaluation of alternatives to the applicant's proposed route proposed pursuant to Subsections A and B;
7. 
Evaluation of potential routes which would use or parallel existing highway rights-of-way;
8. 
Evaluation of governmental survey lines and other natural division lines so as to minimize interference with residential use;
9. 
Evaluation of the future needs for additional transmission lines in the same general area as any proposed route, and the advisability of ordering the construction of structures capable of expansion in transmission capacity through multiple circuiting or design modifications;
10. 
Evaluation of irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources should the proposed site or route be approved;
11. 
When appropriate, consideration of problems raised by other state and federal agencies and local entities.
(Ordinance 2025-O-650 adopted 1/9/2025)